When Ford President Lee Iacocca had a vision for a car that weighted less than 2,000 pounds and cost less than $2,000, he worked with a team who helped create the Ford Pinto. It was a compact car created to compete with Japanese imports and European cars in the 1970s.

According to Yahoo!, the Pinto was priced at $1,830, and was the cheapest car Ford had built in 20 years. In 1970, you had the choice of two engines – a 1.6-liter Kent OHV I4 that put out 75 horses and 96 pound-feet of torque, and a 2.0-liter EAO SOHC I4 that produced 100 HP. Every year afterward, Ford attempted to increase the power of the engines in an effort to improve the vehicle.

By the late 1970s, Ford faced criticism for the design of its fuel tank. In the event of a rear-end collision, the Pinto would catch fire and sometimes explode from the fuel that was spilled. A lawsuit filed in 1977 resulted in Ford having to pay about $6 million because they were found at fault for defects in the design, and in 1978, Ford initiated a recall for the controversial fuel tank.

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